docbert

TK's website clearly states that the official policy on this is... ahh who am I kidding, since when has TK's website clearly stated anything about anything!?

Based on what's show on the new website, the answer appears to be no. Try searching for your flights on their website - you'll probably see it shows a hotel for the shorter connection, but TourIstanbul for the longer one (implying no hotel).

However my personal experience (stated above) is that I did get a hotel in this exact situation, without any issues at all.

If/when you try, please be sure to update us on how you did!

tomwro

If you have 15 hours transfer, you will not get a free hotel.
If you have the opportunity to take a shorter transfer, and you have - 11 hours, then only on this connection you will have a free hotel.

For example:
TXL - IST 18:50-23:50 -> IST - GRU 10:25-18:20 (connection 10h 35min) - YES free hotel (the shortest scheduled connections)
TXL - IST 14:40-19:30 -> IST - GRU 10:25-18.20 (connection ~15h) - NO free hotel

You can write to [email protected] and ask for that.

Away from YYZ

Question...

TK795 arriving IST at 15:30, connecting flight to YYZ TK17 is 15:30 the next day. Obviously will/can not make connection on the same day. AFAIK there is no TK to YYZ in between (15:30 - 15:30+1). So in theory I should be eligible for hotel.

But TK is giving me this canned respond
Did I missed something? Or TK is wrong?

MD/DC Flyer

There are almost a flight every hour from TLV to IST in the morning hours. You can take many other flights on the same day and be able to connect to TK17.

The restriction is not per a combination of particular flights, but the combination of all available flights that day (so if TK795 was the only flight on the route that day, you will be correct). Because there are many other flights on the same day that would allow you to make your connection, TK is correct.

Away from YYZ

Humm... What TK said was "However, if your destination can be reached by an alternative flight to your first flight and the waiting time is less, you cannot take advantage of the hotel service" My understanding is my "first flight" is TK795, "an alternative flight" means other than TK17, and there is no "alternative flight" with "waiting time is less".

I don't see anything mention about "first flight", sounds like it is only the connecting flight that counts.

MD/DC Flyer

This is not what I read: "alternative flight to your first flight" means what it says - a different flight from your first flight (which is TK795), which it can. It does not say anything about the connecting flight.

In essence this benefit is available when there is no possibility of making the connection in less time, not when the passenger chooses not to connect in less time.

bertuzzi

I am arriving IST at 5am and leaving at 8pm.
If I go through transit to visit the main lounge upstairs, will I be allow to go back down to arrivals and clear customs to join a tour?
Also, is it possible to confirm tour reservation in advance? If not, how long before the tour start should I be at the hotel desk in order to avoid the rest of the tour being fully booked?

Thanks

Away from YYZ

IIRC, last year I did the same, and yes, you can exit and clear custom. That's exactly what I did, go to lounge freshen up myself before heading out to join the tour.

AFAIK, there is no 'reservation', you just walk out custom, turn right, head toward starbucks. TK hotel desk is across from it. My suggestion is go maybe an hour before tour starts, but YMMV.

Away from YYZ

Point taken and agree...

But their wording wasn't clear.... In that sense, there will always be a less connecting time option, isn't that true? Or unless one can find the shortest connection time and still exceed 7(J)/10(Y) hours and benefit from it?

So, sounds like now I have 24hrs wander around the new IST airport... %$#@! Hope the lounge is ready.

MD/DC Flyer

Not at all. For two destinations that have only a daily flight to IST ot two there will be instances that it is impossible to make the connection within the 7 hours even when taking the shortest connection time flights. It is not as rare as it may sound. It is actually quite rare to have as many flights from TLV as TK has. While the timetable is optimized to prevent long connections, sometime they are unavoidable.

Furry

TK newbie here trying to book a ticket from EZE to ARN on 2nd of Jan 2018. I've read through the rules for free hotel night (10h for Y / 7h for J) and understand the concept. Also it seems that it shows a bed icon on TK site when booking is eligible for the before mentioned hotel night. For some reason it doesn't show the icon for this day (For 1st of Jan 2018 for the same flight combo icon is shown), can it be a bug on their site or are they also counting the connections through PTY with Copa (as they result less than 7 hour connection in IST but with significantly longer travel time to reach ARN, can they)?

Also, does it make any difference if I have make the booking from OTA instead of directly from TK site?

Here are all options from TK site for that day:



Here is the flight I would choose and that in my opinion should classify for hotel:

docbert

It's clearly talking about an "alternative flight to your first flight". ie, you can catch a later TLV-IST with a much shorter connection.

The simple fact is that there is NO way to use the hotel benefit when flying to/from TLV, due to the frequency of flights on that route - there's always going to be a connection option that is less than 10 hours (economy), and I think even always one less than 7 hours (business).

Yes, absolutely. Act like you're a connecting passenger to get to the lounge. Depending on where you're coming from that might mean just going up the ramp, or it might mean going through connection security.

To get back, walk out of the main lounge entrance, and keep walking straight. When you get to the start of the food court (pretty much at the very other end of the main terminal), you'll find a set of stairs on your left. Go down those stairs, and you'll be back in the arrivals area, where you can then go through immigration to entry the country (obviously you'll need an eVisa first if your country of citizenship needs one).

I've done this same route many times, and never had an issue. There are staff at the bottom of the stairs that you might need to interact with - just let them know you're headed to immigration and they will be fine.

docbert

I would put that down to yet another TK website issue. The shortest connection on that route is 10h45m, so you'll get a hotel regardless of class. It's possible the Copa flight is what is confusing the website, but it will NOT impact your ability to get a hotel.

FFlash

Furry

I am a bit stepping into dark side!

From our beloved neighbor in the West the prices are extremely food (~2k€ for round trip and even less via OTA) so a little detour via IST (with free overnight hotel on both ways) is not that bad. Plus renewing A3 Gold on one single trip is also VEERY tempting. Not to mention making Mrs. very happy to visit South America on our "honeymoon". It's a win-win.